Contributed by Kevin Lacey

Jr. Gremlin – Cardinal

(Teams Do Not Keep Official Score)

La Cañada Gladiators Jr. Gremlin-Cardinal Flag Football Team vs. El Sereno Stallions Flag Football Team at La Cañada High School Field 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 25.

On Saturday the La Cañada Gladiators Jr. Gremlin-Cardinal Flag football team faced off against the El Sereno Stallions. On the field were Cardinal Team players Caden Smith, Andrew Sharman, Jonah Cisneros, Brian Harley, Arthur Amorosi, Zachary Roh, Easton Caneva, Andrew Kim, Andrew Scarsi, Max Saucedo, Andrew Seace, Adam Griffin, Matthew Buntich, Marus Martin, Michael Lund, Ryan Gonzalez, Jordan McWhorter, and Bryson Reeves.

In their opening drive, Reeves had a 35-yard gain. Quarterback Michael Lund had a great game along with running backs Andrew Sharman and Jonah Cisneros. Lund also had a great pass to Mathew Buntich.

On the second Stallions drive, cornerback Caden Smith pulled his first flag of the season, stopping a Stallion drive. Safety Zachary Roh also pulled his first flag of the season.

On defense Reeves intercepted an errant Stallion pass at the 37-yard line and returned it for a touchdown!

Lund engineered another Gladiator scoring drive in the third quarter, with Sharman having a key run. On second down, Reeves scored his and the Gladiators’ second touchdown of the game.

In the fourth quarter Defensive End Andrew Seace pulled his first flag.  Gladiators Jordan McWhorter and Caden Smith successfully forced a Stallion fumble.

Next Sunday, Oct. 3, the Jr. Gremlins Cardinal squad will square off against the Arcadia Indians.

Jr. Gremlin – Gold

(Teams Do Not Keep Official Score)

The La Cañada Jr. Gremlin-Gold Flag Football Team took aim at the Temple City Ram Flag Football Team at La Cañada High School on Saturday morning.

Playing for the La Cañada Jr. Gremlin Gold Team were players Sebastian Aviles-Maya, Khalil Bush, Jacob Hurtado, Brady Kline, Mike Okland, Christopher “CJ” Corlett, Nathan Lee, Jake Okland, Matthew Banich, Dexter Mathews, Charlie Stewart, Jordan Hershman, Dylan Luper, Bennett Oakes, Andrew Ortiz, Angel Martin, Chris Nava, and Valentine Nunez.

Under the steadily warming skies, Bennett Oakes led the team as the quarterback.  During the first quarter, Oakes completed a pass to Banich for a 15-yard gain. During the third quarter Oakes completed a pass to Nunez, for a gain of 20 yards. Handoffs from Oakes to Lee, in the third and fourth quarters, also resulted in respective gains of 10 and eight yards.

A highlight of the game was the excellent effort of Dylan Luper, who led the Gladiator defense pulling eight flags during the game. Another highlight of the defense was the outstanding effort of Mathew Banich who pulled six flags. Versatile player Oakes also helped Gladiator defense pulling two flags. Okland, held his defensive position well to help hold back Temple City.

Next up for the Gladiators are the Arcadia Indians on Sunday at La Cañada High School.

Gremlins

Final Score: La Cañada: 12 Temple City: 14

Led by the hard running of Elijah Washington on 15 carries for 90-yards the La Cañada Gladiators Gremlins almost pulled off a win against the Temple City Rams. Temple City scored on two touchdowns as did the Gladiators, but the difference in the game was Temple City’s ability to convert both extra points for a two-point victory. The La Cañada Gladiators record is now 0-2.

Under the hot weather of midday runners Chris Wood, Elijah Washington, Tanner Gish, Charlie Rocca, Adam Crawford and Thomas McConnell carried the ball for a total of 27 carries for 165 yard total and two touchdowns. Tanner Gish was the quarterback for the game.

The Gladiators defense held the Temple City scoreless in the second half with the following players making tackles: Chris Wood, Elijah Washington, Zack Howorth, Charlie Rocca, Adam Crawford, Mitch Espinosa, Mitchell Frus, Dylan McGoldrick, Thomas McConnell, Miles Haxton, Clayton Esparza, Aaron Wilson, Ian Goodstein, Alex Hartwick and Carson Okland.

The offense players of La Cañada played hard on the hard field of synthetic turf to give the opportunity for the rushers and quarterback to play tough. Other players on the line and in the defensive backs included Ronald Shin, Evan Estrada, Jake George, Devin Mathews, Emmet Hurley, Ian Harding, Blake Northrop, Jack Rothgeb, Derek Albanese, Miles Gunner, Will Stewart, Chuck Mayer and Jacob Buntich.

Jr. Pee Wee

Final Score: La Cañada: 24 La Puente 0

The 2010 Gladiator Junior Pee Wee squad defeated the La Puente Warriors Saturday night at La Cañada High School 24-0. The Gladiator season record now stands at 1-1.

The Gladiator offense took and scored their first touchdown early in the first quarter.  Starting from their own 44 yard-line following a terrific 15-yard kick-off return by Max Moreno, quarterback Brian Erickson handed off to running back Eli Chavez for two 25-yard gains, behind the powerful blocking of the offensive line of Theo Chamberlain, Drake Barron, Ethan DeMoulin, Michael Chan and Jules Buenabenta, in addition to tight ends Julian Martinez and Jackson Totleben. The conversion was stopped by the Warriors.

On the ensuing Warrior possession, the Gladiator defense was stifling, led by linebacker Will McConnell, whose sack on third down forced a fourth and 23. Bobby Gazmarian made a spectacular return of the Warriors’ punt 30 yards to the Warrior 14 yard line, but the Gladiator offense stalled, and turned the ball over on downs.  Gazmarian continued his stellar play with an interception of a Warrior pass on fourth and seven to end the first quarter.

McConnell and Moreno took over the RB duties in the second quarter, and additional offensive line support came from Matthew Lim, Jordan Kruglov, Conrad Oakes, Brandt Lukas, Kyle Ramirez and Richard Berry. Chan, McConnell and DeMoulin all made stops on defense on the next Warrior possession, forcing a punt that was returned by Gazmarian 16 yards to the Warrior 12-yard line. McConnell ran 11 yards for first and Goal from the one, and then ran it in for the Gladiator score. The conversion attempt failed, and the teams traded interceptions, including a pick by Erickson, returned 15 yards. At halftime the Gladiators had the lead 12–0.

In the third quarter, the Warriors opening possession was stuffed by the Gladiators.  Linebacker Erickson had a sack on third down to force a punt, which was blocked by Chamberlain and recovered by the Gladiators at midfield. The Gladiators marched down the field. Erickson hit Totleben with a pass for a 12-yard gain, and Chavez finishing it off with a nine-yard touchdown run. The conversion attempt again failed, but the Gladiators had a commanding 18-0 lead.

The tough Gladiator defense continued to dominate with Totleben intercepting a tipped pass and returning it to the Warrior 43-yard line. Defenders Christopher Villalobos, Connor McGoldrick, Justin Sabourin, Ellis Rothrock and Eric Song all contributed to the Gladiators defensive domination, culminating in an Andrew Van Ginkel’s interception and return to the Gladiator 46 just before the end of the third quarter. On the final play of the quarter, running back Eli Chavez broke several tackles to rumble 46 yards to the Warrior eight-yard line.

The Gladiators scored on an eight-yard screen pass from Erickson to McConnell, on the first play of the final quarter. The conversion attempt failed, but the Gladiators led 24-0.

Totleben, McConnell and McGoldrick harassed the Warriors on the next few drives.  Chamberlain, Martinez, DeMoulin, Chavez, Gazmarian and Erickson all stuffed Warriors plays, helping the Gladiator defense. Max Moreno broke a few big runs for over 40, to close out a day that saw a dominant Gladiator offense rush for over 200 yards, led by Chavez with over 100 yards.

Next up for the Gladiators are the Arcadia Indians at La Cañada High School on Sunday, Oct. 3, at 1 p.m.

Pee Wee

La Cañada 38 Temple City 0

In their first home game of the season, the Gladiator Pee Wees shut out the Temple City Rams 38-0 at La Cañada High School on Sunday. The Pee Wees are now 2-0.

In the first series of the first quarter the Gladiator defense made their presence known as Mario Martinez forced a fumble and picked up the ball to run for a 45-yard touchdown. Daivon Grayson kicked in the two point PAT to bring the game to 8-0. The Gladiator defense stopped Temple City’s offense again in their next possession with a sack and forced fumble by Martin Guerrero that was recovered by Tyler Hill. On its next offensive possession, Grayson ran for a 60-yard touchdown, and brought the score to 16-0 after a two-point conversion by Martinez.  By the end of the second quarter, the Gladiators had brought the score to 30-0. The Temple City offense was stopped by excellent interior line play, with sacks by David Vardinian and Michael Doud. Temple City’s total offense was -5 yards, with no first downs.

With the time clock running in the second half, Gladiators continued to move the ball with hard running by Thomas Stea, Brandon Sharman, and Dominic Jones under the leadership of quarterback Davind Yoon. Gladiator defense stayed strong with Temple City poised to score on a 40-yard pass that Mario Martinez tackled at the one-yard line, forcing a fumble that was recovered in the end zone by Gladiator cornerback Dominic Jones. This brought the Gladiators to their own 20-yard line, where quarterback Brett Gangi runs for an 80-yard touchdown with strong support from the Gladiator offensive linemen and backfield. Daivon Grayson scored the final touchdown and two-point PAT conversion to give the Gladiators their final score of 38-0.

Jr. Midget

La Cañada 27 Temple City 6

No report received

Midget

La Cañada 40  Whittier Redskins 18

On Saturday afternoon at La Cañada High School, the La Cañada Midgets dominated the Whittier Redskins on both sides of the ball and improved to 2-0 in an impressive win.

The first half was a tough defensive battle.After a scoreless first quarter La Cañada drew first blood with a beautiful 45-yard pass from quarterback Jeremiah Martin to wide receiver Chip Crowley. As the second quarter drew to a close, Whittier tied the game 6-6.

The third quarter witnessed the Gladiators take control of the game. On Whittier’s first possession, safety Chase Walker intercepted an errant Redskin pass. After a hard 15-yard run by running back Matt Bayle, running back Will Lombardo followed with a 25-yard run and a 20-yard touchdown, behind the tenacious blocking of wide receiver Kevin Lentz and the stalwart blocking of the offensive line, led by Jonathan Sotoodeh, Jacob Reyes, Adam Rowton, Tanner Costi, Christian Woodward, Thomas Rhee, Julian Najera, Nicholas Peters, James Doyle, Justin Curran, and Joseph Bolin. Quarterback Martin then hit tight-end Todd Murray with a pass in the back of the end zone for the two-point conversion to put the Gladiators in front 14-6.

On the next series, Najera recovered a Redskin fumble, which then led to a 45-yard touchdown pass from Martin to Murray. At the end of the third quarter the Gladiators had a commanding 20-6 lead.

The Gladiator defense began the final quarter by holding Whittier to three plays and a punt, led by the devastating tackling of defensive ends Ta’Von Duker, Bobby Baldochi and Murray, and defensive backs Connor Van Ginkel, Jeronimo Rodriguez, Kevin Aguilar, Jonathan Jun and Brett Klein. After a La Cañada turnover, the Gladiators got an immediate return gift with a fumble recovery and return for a touchdown by Lombardo. Bayle punched it in for a two-point conversion to bring the score to 28-6. There was, however, no quit in the Redskin team, which scored and narrowed the Gladiator lead to 28-12.

La Cañada immediately stormed back with their powerful running game, giving their potent pass offense a breather after all the hard work of their talented group of receivers, led by several awesome receptions by the always reliable Chase Walker, his twin brother Wes Walker, Scotty Platisa, Kevin Lentz, Andrew Cruz and Crowley.   Lombardo scored on a 35-yard run, behind a three block by Cruz. The then led 34-12. La Cañada’s final score came on the on the first offensive play of the next series when Bayle stepped in front of a Whittier receiver and returned the interception 40 yards for a score to put the Gladiators up 40-12.

Whittier last score came with two minutes on the clock made the final score 40 to 18. Wes Walker had a nice last interception to end the game.

The Gladiator Midgets next game is against Lincoln Heights at La Cañada High School on Sunday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.